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Roger Denny explains OU men's golf coach Ryan Hybl's decision to leave for Georgia Tech

headshotby: George Stoia05/27/26GeorgeStoia

MIRAMAR BEACH, Florida — Roger Denny had to replace his first coach in his OU tenure this past week, when OU men’s golf coach Ryan Hybl surprisingly took the Georgia Tech job after 17 years in Norman.

Hybl has been a staple at OU, helping the Sooners win a national title in 2017 and making the NCAA Championships in 15 consecutive seasons. So when it was announced that Hybl was leaving, it caught some fans by surprise. There were even some rumors that Hybl was possibly leaving because Denny — who was hired in February — was cutting his pay.

That was definitely not the case, according to both Denny and Hybl, who is from Georgia and whose entire immediate family still lives in Georgia. And at SEC Spring Meetings, Denny made that clear.

“For the record, Ryan Hybl’s salary was never cut, was never suggested that it would be cut,” Denny told SoonerScoop. “I told Ryan repeatedly that if there was anything that could overcome his desire to get closer to his family from a contractual financial program support, whatever it is, I needed to know that. And I was prepared to go get that done, and ultimately, the call to home was compelling.”

Denny went as far as to say that OU offered Hybl ways to get him closer to family while remaining at OU. Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

“There were some things that we were able to offer him that would have made it easier for him to get home and be around his family more frequently,” Denny said. “But I can tell you, as someone who now lives farther away from my parents than I ever have, and here in two or three weeks will be bringing my kids farther away from their grandparents than they’ve ever been, that’s hard, man. And so, again, contractually, financially, we were prepared to do whatever it took. But the call to home is really, really difficult to beat.” 

Hybl explains his decision

Hybl himself backed this up on the Oklahoma Breakdown podcast with Gabe Ikard and Teddy Lehman. He praised Denny for how he handled the situation.

“Oklahoma has been so good to us,” Hybl told Ikard and Lehman. “Roger Denny’s been amazing. He is amazing. He’s a great leader. He’s done everything and anything for my family. I’m going to clear that up because I know there’s been a lot of talk out there. That (the rumors of cutting his pay) is the furthest from the truth. Roger has been amazing… We’ve had really, really good communication.”

Hybl went on to explain that his reasoning for leaving OU was purely due to wanting to be closer to family.

Denny announced that Jonathan Moore, the program’s associate head coach and director of performance the last three years, will replace Hybl as head coach. Hybl is continuing to coach the Sooners this week in the NCAA Championships.

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